Paper Marigolds Tutorial with FREE SVG File for Cricut

Created on:

October 30, 2022

Updated on:

January 20, 2024

Written by Kelsey Sergi
free paper marigolds template for cricut - free cricut tutorial on how to make paper flowers | paper marigolds in yellow and orange

As I was making these paper marigolds I kept thinking - these are a relatively easy DIY Paper flower because they don’t need to be perfect. This free marigold SVG has twelve layers and makes an excellent addition to any paper craft project. 

Materials and Tools Needed:

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So I ended up making this flower five times and I swear every time that I made it I tried it a different way. I ended up tweaking the free SVG a little bit so that the center was a little bit more round but again this is a “messy flower” which means we're not striving for perfection here. What is great about paper flowers is that you don't really need a lot of tools and materials to create them for these paper marigolds you will need:

  • Cricut Machine or other cutting machine - you can make these with ANY of the Cricut brand machines.
  • Card stock paper I'm using a 65 pound weight I like using this for my paper flowers because I feel like it's a little bit easier to manipulate and bend.
  • I'm going to use hot glue for my paper flowers today but you can also use craft glue (I love Bearly Arts and code DINOMAMA will save you 10%)
  • Some sort of tool to help you manipulate the paper whether that be bending or curling the paper. I used both a bone tool and then I switched over to just a dowel you can also use a skewer if you have a special tools for paper flower making great I do not and I just use what I have on hand!

Downloading and Uploading the Free Flower SVG File

You can grab this free SVG file under my community SVGs make sure to sign up for my newsletter and shortly after you will receive the password to enter the community files. If you need help downloading don't forget to check out both tutorials for desktop and for iPad and please reach out in the contact box below if you have any further questions or need help. 

paper marigolds cricut design space tutorial

Once you have this download if you can then upload this into Cricut Design Space. All of the SVGs must be uploaded into some sort of design space to see the layers if you just click on the image you're not going to see all of the layers that are involved in the SVG. 

paper marigolds cricut design space tutorial

Once you have it uploaded the first thing I suggest doing is resizing it. I need my flowers in between 4.25 inches and 6 inches wide. The 4.25 inch flower really didn't look that much different in size at the end of the day so if you want to save space on paper then I definitely suggest going around that 4 inch mark. Make sure that you are doing this before you were separating any of the layers if you are separating them but there really isn't a need to separate the layers you can keep them grouped. 

paper marigolds cricut design space tutorial

The next step and honestly the last step is to just change the color and because this is a marigold I decided to do them all in one solid color. So you can just grab the entire group image and change the color to what you'd like it to be; I went with orange and yellow. If you want to do different colors you are more than welcome to select each individual layer and then change the layers and the colors.

Once you have it sized and the colors change you can then either multiply it within Cricut Design Space and change it so you have multiple different color flowers or you can send it over to your machine so you're ready to make it and then adjust the amount that you want to make. I definitely went through and moved around some of the flowers to maximize my space on my paper I used both 12 x 12 paper and 8 1/2 x 11 paper to create these but again they are all made in a 65 pound weight. 

paper marigolds cricut design space tutorial

If you were cutting multiple of the same color make sure that you separate out all of your layers after cutting and that you have the proper amount of each layer for each flower remember it has 12 layers in each.

Assembling the Paper Marigolds 

Like I mentioned before I made these five times before I finally found a way that I love so once you have everything separated out the first thing we're going to want to do is curl our petals and shape them.

how to assemble the paper marigolds using a dowel and free paper flower svg template

There's no rhyme or reason for this but I started at the bottom of my flower and worked my way up to the top smallest layer so if you're starting at the bottom all you're going to do is grab that dowel or skewer and we're going to curl the petal around that skewer. If you're using a bone tool you can crawl the paper on both edges of each petal and then I suggest still going back and bending it so it has a little bit more shape. You were going to do this curling shaped around the entire flower in the same direction.

how to assemble the paper marigolds using a dowel and free paper flower svg template

I'm going to continue to do this curling of each petal using my dowel for all of the layers except for the last four layers. For the top four layers, the smallest of the layers, I am still going to do the same motion of curling but this time I am going to do one towards me and then one away from me. So your curl one petal facing up and then you'll curl the next petal next to it facing down. This is going to make our center and  when we add this into the flower that center looks full and all of the petals are intertwining.

how to assemble the paper marigolds using hot glue and free paper flower svg template

Now that we have all of our petals curled, we are ready to assemble our flower to become one piece. Again I'm going to start at the bottom of my flower and I am going to use hot glue just in the center and then I'm going to place the next part on top but slightly turn it.

how to assemble the paper marigolds using hot glue and free paper flower svg template

You're going to do this the entire way up the flower and then once you get to the center you're going to want to start pinching them in I did this throughout the entire flowers so that it stays nice and fluffy. When you're getting towards the center though you're really going to be pinching those petals in to make them stand. But again each time I'm using hot glue in the center and I'm just placing them one on top of the other.

how to assemble the paper marigolds using my hands and free paper flower svg template

Once I had all of my petals glued together I went back through and I just fluffed them up again by pushing all of the petals toward the center and then letting them fall back out. By doing this I'm letting the petals intertwine with each other and kind of lock in magically. You can also add a small amount of hot glue into the very center of the last layer to keep these petals close together!

how to assemble the paper marigolds using my hands and free paper flower svg template

These may take a bit of testing each time but again like I called them they are messy flowers to perfection is not what we're aiming for here. None of these are going to look the same, every time you make it it's going to look different but they're still going to be beautiful.

free sugar skull svg file made out of paper with paper marigolds as a crown.

If you want to check out any of my other flower templates please look into my rainbow rose, my daisies, and if you are a beginner flower creator then definitely check out this easy flower tutorial.

I can't wait to see what you create don't forget to tag me on Instagram or Pinterest!

And don't forget to sign up for my newsletter below to get the latest SVGs and tutorials along with giveaways and new Cricut news. 

Happy Crafting!

Kelsey Sergi - the owner and crafter at Dinosaur Mama.

Hi crafters! I'm Kelsey and I am here to bring you new original craft projects and free SVG files for your cutting machines every week!

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